Lump vs briquettes


 
C

Chris Wagg

New member
I get the impression that the purists out there really prefer to use lump charcoal. My personal experience has led to a strong hatred for the stuff. I find that it is far less predictable in terms of heat, as well as length of burn. I also find that pulling the lid off the grill creates enough of a draft that ashes blow all over the place, not a lot, just enough to get on the food. I have also found the odd rock in with the lump.

Last night I put a full chimney of lump on to light, by the time it was lit, the chimney as only half full, and throwing unlit lump on top did not end up lighting the new stuff.

So far, the one thing that I do like about it is the nice "crackling" sound it makes as it burns. Unfortunately, up here in Canada, nobody carries briquettes in February so I am stuck using what I can get.

Has anyone else experienced this type of issue, and what have you done to get around it?

Chris
 
Welcome Chris,

Lump differs from briquettes in a number of ways. Obviously one product is natural and the other is manufactured. Lump will burn hotter than briquettes and can give a pleasant aroma. For this reason, many prefer lump. Also there are no foreign material (except for the occasional rock) in lump which could affect the flavor of your food. That's not to say that briquettes are unsafe, but as you pointed out; some of the folks here may be purists and thus opt for the lump. As to the length of burn issue, that too is due to the nature of manufactured versus natural. The natural shapes of lump make it more difficult to stack or load a chimney or charcoal ring with minimal air pockets between the pieces. For maximum burn time, one must take extra care in loading a charcoal ring with lump to minimize the space between pieces. With a little practice, it's no big deal. Briquettes being engineered do have a more predictable burn rate. However experience with the same lump product should give you the same confidence when using it. A full load of properly loaded lump in the charcoal ring will burn for a very long time. I haven't experienced the issue with ashes using lump. Rather I've found that lower quality brands of briquettes tend to yield more ashes. If you haven't already checked it out, a good reference for lump products is found here. As with any product, there's some good ones out there and some bad ones. Check out the Naked Whiz and read through this site for recommendations. I've read that Canada offers excellent lump products year round.

Paul
 
So far, I've only used K and I'm trying to resist moving to lump. The food I'm smoking tastes great and I'm getting dialed in with cooking times and temps using K. No one I've cooked for have expressed anything except delite......however, I keep reading threads praising lump over CC.

I keep seeing the bags of lump at Lowes and HD and they are calling me.......must resist.
 
Home hardware carries kingsford briquettes all year round, Rona has Maple Leaf briquettes(and lump), Lowes has Royal Oak. There is usually one of those chains near you.
 
I've found all the unpredictability is brand-to-brand and if you find something decent and stick to it there's no drawbacks at all to using lump. But I decided early on if I was going to start cooking with charcoal I was going to go to a bit of extra effort to find some of the better brands. According to the Wicked Good website they do have some Canadian distributors: http://www.wickedgoodcharcoal.com/canada.html
 
The brand I am stuck with is "Royal Oak". I know that it is low quality, I also find their briquettes to be substandard, but it is what I have been able to find. There literally are no other options available to me. That being said, I also tried Kingsford lump in the summer and had similar complaints there.
 
the nakedwhiz website mentioned above actually gives high marks to Royal Oak.......that's the brand that's prevalent in my area as well........I do see a few folks carrying Fire King and/or Cowboy
 
As Naked Whiz notes you have to be a bit careful about Royal Oak - with nearly the same labeling there's one made in the US and ones made in a couple of different countries and they contain a different mix of woods and processing. The US based one's rated OK but the others not so much. (In the reader rankings, the Made in Paraguay version is one of the worst ranked charcoals and the bag's almost identical except the "Made in" line).

The US version is definitely not very dense - you need to use more of it per volume than with Wicked Good, that's for sure. With long cooks you really need to make sure there's a ton of it in there.
 
I use more K than lump. I recently got a chance to use the Royal Oak lump. Good stuff! Stay away from the Cowboy brand lump. Pure junk!
 
A brickette that smokes, smells and crackles like lump is a brand that Lowes carries called Stubbs. I'm on my second bag and like it just fine so far. The inconsistancy in size of lump is a major negative for me. I've tried several brands and I end up with a half bag of pieces about the size of marbles that are useless. I have been happiest with lump when mixing it some kind of brickette, like Stubbs. Also Stubbs is advertised to be chemical-free.
 
Bought a bunch of lump bags (royal oak made in USA from walmart), wanting to convert to lump. Pointed out the difference in smell, even my girlfriend noticed it.

But I still long for Kingsford! Ease in lighting, use, and burn time. I even tried one bag of some all natural briquettes from Trader Joes. Took to long to light, so the top part was unlit and cold, while the bottom half was burning away.

In my WSM I'm just so used to Kingsford. I wonder if anyone has done a blind taste test.
 
Love the smell of lump, but hate the mix of very small to fairly large pieces.

Not so much of an issue if packing a WSM ring full, but, IMO, a pain for everyday grilling/bbqing on the kettle, and it burns up too fast for my indirect cooks.

Fire King lump (featured on Dirty Jobs) is a local (MO) brand that I'm using along with K blue bag.

I think I could go straight lump if I ever set up a sorting area and opened each bag to sort the pieces into 3 sizes, S M L.
Medium for everyday, and the rest for the WSM.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chris Wagg:
The brand I am stuck with is "Royal Oak". I know that it is low quality, I also find their briquettes to be substandard, but it is what I have been able to find. There literally are no other options available to me. That being said, I also tried Kingsford lump in the summer and had similar complaints there. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Chris, where in Canada are you?
 
I'm in Kitchener, Ontario. Someone mentioned that a few stores carry Kingsford briquettes year round, but I have searched long and hard and have yet to find any.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chris Wagg:
I'm in Kitchener, Ontario. Someone mentioned that a few stores carry Kingsford briquettes year round, but I have searched long and hard and have yet to find any. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Williamsburg Home Hardware
1187 Fischer Hallman Road, Unit 410
Kitchener, ON
N2E 4H9
(519) 744-6722

2 bags Kingsford in stock right now.
 
It's a bit of a drive but I believe there are BBQ'S galore stores in Oakville and Burlington. I think they would stock it year round. Plus the home hardware Cris posted. Also you might want to check out bbqtalk.ca. The majority of the members are from your neck of the woods and would probably have a lot of options for purchasing briquettes.

For the Royal Oak that is my primary charcoal out here. I have ones I prefer more but it is very easy to get Royal Oak. I haven't found any ash on the food or anything like that. Not sure what the difference would be. As for lighting I fing lighting lump quicker. Who knows!

Clark
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chris Wagg:
I'm in Kitchener, Ontario. Someone mentioned that a few stores carry Kingsford briquettes year round, but I have searched long and hard and have yet to find any. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hi Chris. Home Hardware and Rona both carry Maple Leaf Lump. Some stores may have to order it in, but I have been able to get it.

TA Appliance on Victoria carries Natures own ( a really good brand,) and one other kind that I can't think of. If you haven't been there yet, it is a good place to check out for all things BBQ. They also carry briquettes all year round.


The RONA store on Ottawa St. also carries Maple Leaf (8kg $17.49)

I have used both the Natures Own and the Maple Leaf Lump. Both of them I would recommend. Iusually order a skid at a time, so it depends on pricing when I order it which one that I get. I used to be able to get Natures Own in Strathroy, but they discontinued that wholesaler, now I just order it from my local RONA store (Atwood). They don't carry a full skid at a time, so I need to give them a few days notice.

Hope this helps. I never use briquettes anymore. I find that if I pack the ring good, I can get a long burn with the lump, and it wmells much nicer and is a more natural product with a LOT less ashes.
 
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